Both groups of researchers are studying penguin colonies in Antarctica.

Both groups of researchers are taking a “head-count” to estimate the number of birds in each colony.

Both groups of researchers do multiple counts. This allows them to track the health of the penguin colony—to see how many chicks survived to adulthood, how many pairs were able to breed, how the birds were able to find food over the course of different seasons.

The researchers in the Nat Geo News article are following up on studies conducted using satellite imagery, which identified new emperor penguin colonies. The Wild Chronicles researchers are limited to an old-fashioned head count.

The researchers arrived at the penguin colonies in different ways. The researchers in the Nat Geo News article took Ski-Doos across the ice from their “home” at a research station in Antarctica. The Wild Chronicles researchers stayed on a ship (the National Geographic Explorer) and took head-counts on day trips to the mainland.

The researchers in the Nat Geo News article were focused on getting an accurate estimate of the number of birds in the colony. The researchers in the Wild Chronicles video also studied how the birds built their nests and interacted with their ecosystem—including varying ice levels and predators such as leopard seals.

Alain Hubert, the explorer in the Nat Geo News article, “is concerned that melting sea ice could make it harder for penguins to find food sources.” This is exactly the same concern researchers in the video have—specifically, they fear a decrease in the population of the cold-loving chinstrap penguins as global climate heats up.

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